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Recently, I attended a BIE PBL 201 workshop in McKinney, TX. I had the pleasure of being guided through the workshop by BIE National Faculty Member Telannia Norfar, creator of the Finance Project (share with your pre calc teachers ;). I wrote about my experience in PBL 101 last year in a different post. This post is a new edition following my time at PBL 201. If you don't know anything about 201, it's focused more on the blue lens rather than the red one you experience in 101.

More Protocols!

I walked away with a couple protocols from PBL 101: the Charrette and the Tuning Protocols. In PBL 201, we experienced SEVEN new ones like: the Multi-Text Protocol, Connect Extend Challenge, Final Word Protocol, Give Two Get Two Reflect, Step Inside Protocol, and more. Experiencing them was helpful as I learned the contexts in which they would work. Additionally, I learned where some of them originated from like The Visible Thinking Project at Harvard’s Project Zero and the School Reform Initiative. Exploring their websites during the workshop and intentionally analyzing/discussing the contents opened up a big can of strategies for teaching critical thinking.

Protocols and Equity

By the end of PBL 101, I knew the importance of protocols, and I stuck to the times constraints. Step forward one year and at PBL 201, I had somewhat forgotten how important it was to be rigid on time. There’s something about being a student again that helps you understand these things more deeply. If someone shares for only a minute during a three minute share time, they’re missing out on two minutes of thinking. If you’re a teacher in this scenario, you’re unknowingly reinforcing a culture that promotes shallow thought. Embrace the silence right? If you go to a 201, you’re bound to review something that’s gotten rusty in your PBL teaching practice.

I’ve used BIE’s Critical Thinking Rubric before but more so in a piecemeal fashion. I’d take a bit here and a bit there thinking that I was teaching critical thinking effectively. PBL 201 teaches you critical thinking is best taught when scaffolded. The Critical Thinking Rubric is carefully designed to guide students through these thinking steps. That was a quick learn, but the better part of our learning time was spent researching and analyzing TONS of instructional strategies to support each of these phases of critical thinking (The 4 phases I’m talking about are represented by each row on the Critical Thinking Rubric top to bottom). Fellow workshop participants and I spent a good deal of time researching and analyzing a host of resources that guide students through each part of the rubric. After a jigsaw, a couple protocols, and some shareouts, we all walked away with a new perspective on the rubric and a few activities to support each phase of thinking.

Dissecting Protocols

I experienced numerous new protocols in PBL 201, but I was also guided to dissect them. I learned that critical thinking protocols are carefully designed to scaffold student thinking. Before PBL 201, I liked protocols, but I never really thought about how they were designed. To sum up, I learned that there are three parts to every protocol that focuses on teaching critical thinking: presenting the work and framing the need, evaluating work and providing feedback, and receiving, evaluating, and using the feedback. In these steps, I was most familiar with the middle where students actually evaluate the work. That was my understanding of teaching critical thinking. What I learned in PBL 201 is that steps one and two are just as critical. If students can’t frame the need and share their ideas clearly, other students won’t be able to give quality feedback. Additionally, if clear criteria aren’t explained or if team members don’t know what they’re looking for in a text, they won’t know what to look for or say to their teammates. Finally, if students aren’t given a strategy to evaluate and USE the feedback they’ve been given, there’s no guarantee it will be implemented and change their products.

You Can’t Beat Being Around People with Passion

Everyone in 201 has experience with PBL so if you thought you’d met passionate educators in 101, they’re even more passionate in 201. The “I like, I wonder” culture exists and you don’t have to spend time building it like in 101. Participants are open and honest from the get go. Learning happens fast because you’re part of well-oiled learning machine. Additionally, you can’t beat professional advice and coaching from a BIE National Faculty member. Telannia has been with BIE since the beginning of developing these workshops so she knows her way around. She also didn’t hesitate to connect me with other National Faculty that aligned more with my subject. She encouraged me to meet up with Ted Malefyt during one of our work times, which was really encouraging and gave me a lot of ideas for my science class.

There’s more to PBL 201 than what I wrote. I learned the most from all the activities that focused on critical thinking and protocols, but we also spent a good deal of time analyzing our standards, building a positive culture through coaching, and a few other things I don’t really remember. If you’ve done PBL 101, congrats! You have a project. I would encourage you to try implementing that project. Then, come to PBL 201. I walked away from 201 with a much more developed and effective project than I had in 101. I have a much deeper understanding of how to teach critical thinking, a host of strategies and activities to support, and a wider network of people passionate about PBL.

If you've attended PBL 201, I'd love to hear how it changed your thinking and teaching practice around PBL. Share in the comments.